Konny's statements

First two photos were taken in February this year. It looked like somebody adopted a theme of Kate Moss face as a main theme of his/her work. Recently in Paris, we can discover a whole lot of those. Konny Steding, that's the name of German artist behind these street art works. This summer she went out into the streets around Centre Pompidou, which is her favorite place in Paris since very long.

We can't really find too much information neither on her website, nor on her Facebook page. Any personal story is given, besides of CV and some short movie, with the statement saying: "It took a few years to see that not talking was better than talking too much" - Marcel Duchamp. 

This explains the philosophy of Konny's art. She decided to show her work, very expressive portraits (usually) instead of creating the story around herself, that sometimes might be faster than the art. As a active painter and street artist, she's been present on the artist scene since '94 already and most of the time cooperates with the art gallery named: Moretti & Moretti (website).

"God save the art-institutions"

"God save the art-institutions" sounds pretty funny in this situation, as she has pasted-up a lot of her work on the walls around the city. Maybe this way she claims that there's no point to exhibit your work in the galleries only, but at the same time the "art institution" still remains as the only true "home" for it?

"God save the art-institutions"

All the portraits, besides of being expressive in itself, have the expressive titles, too. Such as, for example: "Fight back", "We all love you", "O.M.G", "No need to panic" etc.

"You are freaking me out"

"ONEK", it's just a signature of another artist that was done in purpose, or by mistake, because the art work belongs to Konny.

Plate's eyes, eyes on the plates etc...

About the stickers presented below, with eyes having Asiatic features, I thought it's kind of random. However soon after I found another one with the same sticker. 

As I was strolling more and more around the city, I noticed the "eyes" with non-Asiatic features as well, with different color, age, eye colors, etc... Street artist remains unknown for the moment.

Bridges have eyes...

This was the very first street-art-piece that I've ever seen in Paris. Back in October 2009, when I was simply strolling around. After all, I've made some research on the web. What I found was pretty surprising, both about "eyes" as about the author. A long full description you can find on The Independent website, so I'll just describe him shortly.

He's a young french (French-Tunisian actually) photographer, called JR (he doesn't want to reveal his real name). Quoting The Independent: "The "eyes" on the Ile Saint Louis are the product of a two-year world tour called "Women are Heroes", intended to mark the courage and suffering of women enduring poverty and violence in Brazil, India, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Kenya and Liberia."

In the end JR has commented his own work like following: 

"By looking into their eyes, you see that they are not just victims but survivors. And now here they are looking out at the people of Paris. When the tourist launches go past at night and illuminate the eyes for just a few seconds, the effect is extraordinary: much better than I could have hoped for."

Update of the post - December 2014

JR is doing well and his artistic achievements still growing. Thanks to Artsy.net we can both read a great amount of the most recent information about him as sight a lot of art pieces. Also, there's possibility of having a quick look into his studio situated somewhere in NY city (to find here).

Quoting Artsy.net: "A semi-anonymous street artist of international renown, JR plasters giant, monochrome photographs of faces in urban centers—on rooftops and walls, in church windows, and along the sides of buses. Calling the street his gallery and “using art to turn the world inside out,” JR delivers a message of social action, telling the stories of the marginalized or voiceless."

"Action in Phnom Penh" 2011- Tomio Koyama Gallery

Courtesy of Artsy.net